The most important unfinished business from the Lewiston massacre, when a gunman killed 18 Mainers on Oct. 25, 2023, is the state’s lack of a “red flag” law that could have allowed family members to alert police and a judge about the imminent danger Robert Card presented, and removed his firearms.

Instead, the state has a unique “yellow flag” law that provides for police to detain someone pending a mental health evaluation that also can lead to temporary firearms surrender. It’s a cumbersome procedure that stigmatizes the mentally ill – the vast majority of them non-violent – and ignores that those perpetrating mass shootings are often incredibly angry and deluded, but legally sane.

Yet the path to the red flag law has been far from smooth. Gov. Janet Mills opposes it, and the Legislatur

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